58 Revue <strong>de</strong> Presse-Press Reviezv-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro <strong>de</strong> la Prensa-Basin Ozeti
Revue <strong>de</strong> Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro <strong>de</strong> la Prensa-Basin Ozeti on guerrillas from the Kurdistan Work¬ ers' Party, or PKK, who use the jagged mountain bor<strong>de</strong>r frontier as a haven after attacks in Turkey. "We have taken the <strong>de</strong>cision to pur¬ sue an operation," Erdogan said Mon¬ day through an interpreter at the Na¬ tional Press Club. "We are not seeking war," he ad<strong>de</strong>d, but he offered no specif¬ ics or timing. His battle is largely one of percep¬ tion, trying to convince the Turkish public that he is acting against the Kurdish guerrillas <strong>and</strong> that he has U.S. support to do so. But most analysts in Turkey expect any attack to be limited. Whatever the case, Erdogan's visit seemed to satisfy the Turkish public. "People are probably giving the gov¬ ernment the benefit of the doubt at the moment," said liter Turan, a political science professor at Istanbul Bilgi Uni¬ versity. "Most are relieved that no major operation will start on Iraq." But if a large attack were to occur, Turkish soldiers would encounter thou¬ s<strong>and</strong>s of Kurdish pesh merga fighters who have formed a loose <strong>de</strong>fensive line that parallels the Turkish bor<strong>de</strong>r along the ridges of the Mateen Mountains. Kurdish lea<strong>de</strong>rs speak only generally about repelling an invasion, but political <strong>and</strong> military comm<strong>and</strong>ers here have specific instructions: Attacks on civilian villages will draw a fierce counterattack. "If the civilians face any problems, that is our 100 percent red line," Muhammad Muhsen, a regional lea<strong>de</strong>r of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of¬ fice in Amedi, said in a recent inter¬ view, before Kurdish authorities prohib¬ ited local comm<strong>and</strong>ers from discussing the conflict with Turkey. Amedi an¬ chors a large bor<strong>de</strong>r region where fight¬ ers are camped on south-facing slopes as trucks bring pesh merga fighters <strong>and</strong> weapons up curvy roads. Muhsen expressed a common fear among Kurdish comm<strong>and</strong>ers, that the Turkish military wanted to use recent guerrilla attacks as an excuse to damage the Kurdish autonomous region in Iraq. Yet years of fighting the PKK have ma<strong>de</strong> for strange bedfellows, especially in Bamarni, a village north ofDahuk. In the mid-1990s the Kurdistan Democrat¬ ic Party, the dominant power in western Kurdistan, allowed the Turkish mili¬ tary to occupy several bases on the Iraqi si<strong>de</strong> of the bor<strong>de</strong>r, when both were fighting the PKK. The Turks now have about 1,500 soldiers at these bases, said a senior American military official in Baghdad who was not authorized to speak for the record. In Bamarni, Kurdish pesh merga fighters are now stationed at a camp be¬ si<strong>de</strong> a Turkish air base that is home to dozens of tanks <strong>and</strong> armored vehicles. Turkish soldiers routinely dash out in gun trucks to <strong>de</strong>liver food to soldiers op¬ erating tanks that oversee the air base. They also buy supplies at local shops, said Ahmed Saeed, a local political offi¬ cial at a Kurdish outpost nearby. "They have no obstacles to going to the market," said Saeed, who estimated that as many as 400 Turkish soldiers <strong>and</strong> 50 tanks were at the base. The pesh merga never have problems with the sol¬ diers, he said. But if heavy fighting breaks out he is not sure what to expect. "If they surren<strong>de</strong>r themselves to us, then we will not kill them, because we are peaceful," he said. Sabrina Tavernise contributed report¬ ingfrom Istanbul, <strong>and</strong> an Iraqi employee ofThe New York Times contributedfrom Iraqi Kurdistan. car RodioJFrccEurop* f ftodiotiberty Iraqi Governor Calls Fe<strong>de</strong>ralism Best Solution November 6. 2007 I RFBRD- The governor of the Iraqi province of Al-Najaf says that fe<strong>de</strong>ralism offers the best solution for Iraq's regions to reconstruct <strong>and</strong> succeed economically PRAGUE - As'ad Sultan Abu Kulal said on a supporters of al-Sadr <strong>and</strong> supporters of other visit to RFE/RL in Prague today that his region Shi'ite religious parties, particularly the Su¬ is using the <strong>de</strong>centralization of power in Bagh¬ preme Islamic Iraqi Council. A major mo<strong>de</strong>ra¬ dad to make many of its own <strong>de</strong>cisions. He says ting influence over the sometimes violent riva¬ the result it that Al-Najaf has achieved economic lries between factions is the presence of Gr<strong>and</strong> self-sufficiency, both in food <strong>and</strong> fuel. Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the preeminent Shi'ite- The Al-Najaf governor acknowledged that his religious authority in Iraq. province has many starting advantages - inclu¬ The Al-Najaf governor told RFE/RL's Radio ding a historically thriving tourism industry b Free Iraq that fe<strong>de</strong>ralism offers opportunities for ased on religious pilgrims flockingto the Shi'ite other parts of the country, too, <strong>de</strong>spite resistance holy city of Al-Najaf. to the i<strong>de</strong>a in some quarters. The religious tourism has boomed since the overthrow in 2003 of Saddam Hussein's regime, which greatly discouraged it. Recent years have seen investors build more than 450 hotels to lodge the pilgrims, many of whom are from neighboring Iran. The tra<strong>de</strong> also supports res¬ taurants <strong>and</strong> specialty shops, generating enough revenue for the city to enjoy consi<strong>de</strong>rable eco¬ nomic security relative to much of the rest of the country. Benefits Of Devolution But Abu Kulal says Al-Najaf has prospered in recent years mostly because the <strong>de</strong>centralized government in Baghdad allows local authorities to make many key <strong>de</strong>cisions on their own. He says the city's goal is to use this freedom to create self-sufficiency in fuel <strong>and</strong> food two key economic staples. "Our theory as a provincial council <strong>and</strong> civil administration is to build complementary, selfsufficient institutions for this purpose," he said. "For example, we are building the health sector, to have hospitals, <strong>and</strong> have medicine <strong>de</strong>pots. For energy, we are building power stations, in or<strong>de</strong>r not to need power transferred from other provinces. We are building oil refineries, so as not to be obliged to bring fuel from outsi<strong>de</strong> the province." Al-Najaf has been relatively free of unrest since major fighting between U.S.-backed Iraqi forces <strong>and</strong> members of the Imam Al-Mahdi-Army in 2004. The Al-Mahdi Army is loyal to radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who opposes the U.S. presence in Iraq. Control of the city today is shared between "We have tried during the last few years to practice a tiny part of <strong>de</strong>centralization, <strong>and</strong> you could see the huge change that happened when the state gave [us] a little bit of authority, <strong>and</strong> a little bit of funds," Abu Kulal said. "Despite the lack of local resources <strong>and</strong> human resources there was <strong>de</strong>velopment. But the problem that we face is that a part of the Iraqi people lack a kno¬ wledge of fe<strong>de</strong>ralism." Fe<strong>de</strong>ralism remains a divisive issue in Iraq, where the Sunni community says it could lead to unequal sharing of the country's oil wealth or even break up of the country. Most oil wells are in the Shi'ite-majority south of the country or in the Kurdish north. Iraq's Kurds currently enjoy substantial autono¬ my un<strong>de</strong>r Iraq's fe<strong>de</strong>ral system. Many Shi'ite parties are actively pressing for similar rights for southern areas. 59